Zoran Mušič
Korčula Motif, 1936
gouache
36.5 x 58.5 cm
MG-1678

Zoran Mušič is part of the generation of Slovenian artists who received their education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb between the two World Wars, when Zagreb served as a regional hub for artistic pedagogy. During Mušič’s studies there, only nineteen Slovenian students were enrolled at the academy. Alongside Mušič, other notable figures from this group include Gabrijel Stupica, Marij Pregelj, Antun Zuppa, who have since gained recognition. Mušič was born in 1909 in Bukovica near Nova Gorica and attended the Zagreb Academy from 1930 to 1934. During his studies, he was profoundly influenced by Ljubo Babić, who initially guided him towards the Golden Age of Spanish painting (17th and 18th centuries), and then underscored the significance of landscape painting. Slovenian researchers highlight that Mušič, throughout his academic journey, not only absorbed Babić’s historical and theoretical insights but also directly followed his path – first to Korčula (Smokvica, Vela Luka, Korčula) and later settling permanently in Venice from 1945 onwards.
Dalmatian themes are prominent in Mušič’s artwork, particularly scenes depicting women loading donkeys. There are various iterations of this motif: from his early works in the 1930s where, like Antun Motika, Mušič used colour and light to dissolve the outlines of scenes – the ground, rocks, women, donkeys – to his post-war paintings where these motifs of landscapes, women, and donkeys lose their distinctiveness and transform into an emblem, a symbol of sorts, whose treatment evokes prehistoric art. Mušič’s relationship with Dalmatia, particularly with Korčula, held great significance for him. In interviews, he would often express how Dalmatia’s colours and the rounded contours of its island landscapes fascinated him. His paintings do not depict specific locales; instead, Mušič captures his interpretation of them, or as he describes it, his personal obsession.

Text: Klaudio Štefančić, senior curator of the National Museum of Modern Art © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Translated by: Robertina Tomić
Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb